The Spaniards don’t apparently. They tend to just hang about. But I’m told the custom is to ask, when you arrive at the shop , to ask “who is last”. Then you know that, when they get served, you’re next. Which isnt what happened to us a few years back in Mallorca. We were next to be served but the old crone just pushed past us and started ordering. The shop worker sort of shrugged in apology to us. When we did get to be served, she said something in Mallorquin to us (which we don’t speak) which I took to be “she’s a regular and is always like that”.
We simply don’t know. I’m following a number of scientific and academic sources and it just isn’t clear. I just stop and think about how often I get a whiff of cigarette smoke and can’t identify the source; too separated in time and space. Also indications in science-based threads that vaping (vice smoking) increases transmission. Nothing proven but it does indicate that high-moisture aerosols vice droplets are a risk.
There is a big difference between going for a walk in an urban environment and in a rural one. Suburban falls somewhere between. I simply don’t see social distancing working when going for a walk in a big city.
I say an article recently about a runner who had been prepping for a marathon cancelled. He ran his marathon on his 7m long balcony. I would have liked to see that.
Governor Newsom called for social pressure to enforce his recent shelter in place “order”. I notice people on the street exercising good spacing, more than 12 feet, often leaving the sidewalk and walking inn bike lanes if someone is approaching. A major problem seems to be people going to and congregating in recreational areas, beaches, parks.
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Saw photos over the weekend of city parks in London. Packed - and with none of the 2 metre social distancing going on. These idiots are reckless at best.
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We had this exact conversation yesterday. We went to an 800 acre park to hike and we were passing people every couple of minutes. We left. The trail was too tight for us to feel comfortable. We instead went to a park with lots of open space to run around. Only a couple of cars and very easy to keep distance.
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It depends. I have been chatting weekly with far-flung friends. Two who live in NYC report that they’ve been able to get out for walks with hardly anyone on the street, which surprised me. I haven’t asked them about time of day, but each walked during daylight hours. Another person in Minneapolis turned around and chose another route because she could see too many people ahead on her preferred walk.
We’re in a suburban town and take our dog for longer walks in a former agricultural open space on town land. Though everyone is mindful of physical distancing and there’s loads of space, I can no longer relax on our walks because more people are frequenting who are not regulars, and they use the space differently than those of us who have been regular visitors.
Now we have to leash the dog—off-leash is permitted, but it’s not practical now because we have to make sure we can keep to a proper distance. Our dog is the social type and sadly this isn’t the time for her to meet new people. The spot is out of the way so I was surprised. Yet people need to get outside for fresh air during these times.
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People are going to have to adapt. “Need” is a big word.
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It would depend on the neighborhood. We took a half mile walk yesterday mid-day and passed maybe two dozen people, all respecting 12’ plus spacing. Cities are really composite villages and small towns. Today, even commercial centers are deserted, with maybe one grocer open. It is the recreational areas that draw irresponsible crowds.
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I was at the beach, no one was there. I was at the park, no one. I was at the market, the world was there. 2020 the year we gained weight.
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Excellent point. I passed behind a favorite market. Boxes lined the length of the property, maybe 75 feet, and stacked up to the eaves! A checker was out in back taking a break and I overheard him say, “Insane! Insane! I can’t believe this is happening.” Glancing in the door from a distance the aisles looked like the day before Thanksgiving.
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I’ve just driven past the village pharmacy. A queue of people outside - all with 2M between each of them. And our local wildlife open space was all but empty. Maybe half a dozen people walking their dogs so, easy to stroll round and not closely encounter anyone. The Canada geese were enjoying themselves near the small lake and the blackthorn was in full flower and looked fantasttic.
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Agreed. I’m in Manhattan, across a highway from a good-size park with ball fields and lots of space to walk and sit. I can see the park from my window, and people seem to be using it responsibly - running, playing with their dogs, sitting far apart on the benches.
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Our HS#3 works in a supermarket. His sentiments exactly.
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Supermarket staff are the equivalent of first responders in these times, in my opinion. On the front lines and essential.
My friend in Italy says that in addition to the mandatory physical distancing, now grocery store shoppers are required to wear a mask, scarf or some other nose and mouth covering when inside the store. This past weekend Italian grocery stores were closed on Sunday—not sure if it was to give workers a rest.
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With effect from midnight tonight, the UK is officially in almost total lockdown. Folk can only leave their homes for very specific purposes - like going to essential work, or buying food (although one outing a day for exercise, like a walk, is permitted. All non essential shops are closed. All non essential car travel is banned. The police will have powers to enforce this and to disperse any gatherings.
This move which I agree is now essential is brought about not least because of the actions of those fuckwits who went out in large numbers over the weekend to touristy places, in clear and reckless disregard of government advice.
On a personal family level, my nephew is at university a couple of hundred miles from home. He had been planning to get back urgently so as not to get caught in any lockdown. I do not know if he is now “trapped”. Fortunately, he has his car with him so it may just be that he has to load it up with his valuables and get on the road within the next few hours.
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Do you have fine in case of non respect of these rules?
We have these same measures here since a week, one needs to fill a form to go out. Still too many joggers near the bank of Seine in Paris. Some people goes out several times a day to “shop food”, and crosses the same police all the time, they are fined first time 135€, second time 300€ up to 1500€ with repetitive offenses. Parks and beaches are closed. Outdoor markets will be closed starting tomorrow. Another new measure, you can’t do excercises more than 1km from your home.
Many Parisians escape to their country houses in the provinces and provoke a lot of anger from the locals of spreading the virus.
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Oops, sorry ratgirl, I see I "replied "to the wrong post… I’ll skip the earburn to Harters since I assume he’ll see my “quoting” of his post…
Sometimes, but within circles of their own choosing/definition. Things ones see in online venues doesn’t necessarily mirror “typical behavior of the average person” on the street…
I think you have a skewed perception of big city, er, “population mechanics” (for lack of a better term?) Even during normal times, we’re not crammed jeek-by-jowl when we’re just “walking around” on the vast majority of streets. It does get very crowded on major thoroughfares during business-hour “rush hours” (including a broad swath of the mid-day for variable “lunch hours”), and major shopping and entertainment areas can also get incredibly crowded. And of course in areas like midtown Manhattan which have both a high concentration of “office” businesses and shopping/entertainment, it’s often a total madhouse (during normal times.) But even in Manhattan, which is much more densely populated than most of the city, it’s pretty rare to find yourself “crowded” just walking on the street unless you’re in a fairly central part of midtown Manhattan. (Also keep in mind that a lot of the people on midtown Manhattan streets and in other non-mainly-residential areas during its busiest times don’t live in NYC at all, much less that area, even if they work/shop/play there…)
And despite all the unkowns, the overhwhelming evidence - so far from Covid-19, but also from other coronoviral epidemics/illnesses - from MERS/SARS down to the lowly flu and colds - strongly suggests that aerosol transmission in close quarters and “smear” transmission from hands to respiratory orifices (and back again) are the most significant paths of transmission. Needless to say we won’t know for sure for quite some time - and maybe never - but again, the available evidence strongly suggests that the reason Covid-19 appears to have spread “like wildfire” has more to do with a lack of early testing because its moderate/early signs and symptoms are little different from “ordinary” illnesses that aren’t tracked closely except during epidemics (like the flu), or not at all (like colds and URIs). The available evidence suggests that more than unsuually fast spreading (for a coronavirus), what is “unusual” is that we didn’t realize it was spreading when it was, so it was being grossly under-reported in places like NYC and probably still is, in many areas that “believe” they’ve been hit by it “yet”.
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I always thought that was considered an iconic/stereotypical British trait?
How does that work? To whom, and how, are these forms submitted, and how far in advance must they be submitted?
